Minimalist Approach

Vocals are captured onstage with the aid of Sennheiser SKM 5200-II wireless transmitters outfitted with MD 5235 capsules, working EM 3732-II receivers that reside on the other end of the equation. Traditional microphone techniques spread across the drum kit, beginning at kick with a Heil PR 48 on the outside and a Shure BETA 91A on the inside.

Shure SM57s are spread across the three snares, including for use with the rougher, more explosive duty required of the firecracker among the group. AKG C414s are used across the two main bottoms. Toms have Sennheiser MD 421s, there’s a gong drum with a BETA 52 on it, Neumann KM 184s on hats and ride, and flying above it all for overheads – one Royer SF-24 stereo ribbon mic and a pair of C414s.

The stage is minimalist by design. With every member of the band on Sennheiser SR 2000 in-ear systems using Jerry Harvey Roxanne earphones, there are no loudspeakers of any type on the deck. Guitar runs through a pair of Two Notes Torpedo digital loadboxes, and after that, according to monitor engineer Skoutarides, “Everything else is DI. We use Avalon U5s on cello and bass, Radial JDIs on the piano, and Radial J48s on pretty much everything else. A Korg keyboard runs through a real Leslie speaker that is DI’ed backstage in its own iso-cab.”

A DiGiCo SD7 console came with Skoutarides on this tour for use with monitors, which, like Ebdon’s SSL, uses Midas DL431 input splits. “The DL431s sit right next to me,” Skoutarides says. “I use my side of the Midas split for my predominant gain onstage because I simply like the sound of them. This is true of everything except the vocals, which use AES. I’ve found that there’s less latency in the ears that way.”

Skoutarides has also taken a liking to a DNS8 Live multi-channel dialog noise suppressor from Cedar Audio, a device designed for broadcast applications to filter out phasing between lavalier mics.

“True, most would say the DNS8 is more at home working with mics attached to the lapels of talking heads on TV,” he notes. “But you can actively teach it to learn what you don’t want in your vocal mics onstage as well. It has some compression, gating, and other algorithms inside that I use to filter out a lot of reverb coming back from the room, but the real advantage for me is that it does whatever you want it to in less than 1/200th of a frame per channel. I can run it inline too, so it’s not an insert that adds more latency, and is fail-safe. It will always pass audio, so if something goes wrong with it I can just turn it off.”

Skoutarides also subscribes to a philosophy that less is better in terms of processing. Beyond a Crane Song STC8 analog bus compressor he applies over Smith’s mix just to add a bit more “analog warmth,” he has a pair of TC Electronic System 6000s providing eight stereo reverb engines.

“With talent like we have onstage every night,” he concludes, “I don’t need a lot of help. The elements that come together to create this show are deeply rooted in what’s natural and real in terms of sound. My job, just like Jim’s, is to do nothing more than translate that honesty to those who are listening either onstage or out in the crowd. Whether our sound is derived from the warmth of a Midas preamp or captured by a DI, it all has organic origins in the cumulative measure of the music. That’s where the magic is, every night.”